1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technique for ejecting a fluid onto an ejection target medium.
2. Related Art
Ink jet printers print images by ejecting ink onto a print medium. Because the locations in which ink is ejected, the ejection amount, and so on can be controlled with an extremely high level of precision, high-quality images can be printed. Fluid ejection apparatuses that form various types of functional components, such as electrodes, sensors, and the like, by ejecting fluids containing various types of functional materials onto a substrate have also been proposed.
Fluid ejection apparatuses such as ink jet printers and the like include an ejection head provided with multiple nozzles, and eject a fluid such as ink onto an ejection target medium (for example, a print sheet) by ejecting the fluid from the nozzles while changing the relative position between the ejection head and the ejection target medium. If a foreign object adheres to a nozzle opening surface formed in the ejection head in a position facing the ejection target medium, there is a risk that the foreign object will obstruct the ejection of the fluid. Accordingly, the stable ejection of the fluid is facilitated by using a plate-shaped member formed from an elastic material such as silicon rubber (a wiper member) to remove the foreign object that has adhered to the nozzle opening surface. Note that the operation for using such a wiper member to remove objects adhering to the nozzle opening surface is called “wiping”.
During wiping, the wiper member is in an elastically deformed state due to the nozzle opening surface. The elastically deformed wiper member thus forcefully attempts to return to its original shape after the wiping has ended, and if the objects that adhered to the nozzle opening surface and were removed are scattered as a result, there is a risk that the surrounding area will be soiled thereby. Accordingly, a technique that attempts to avoid soiling the surrounding area by suppressing the force with which the wiper member returns to its original shape has been proposed (JP-A-07-032611).
However, there is a problem with the stated proposed technique in that soiling the surrounding area due to the objects that adhered to the nozzle opening surface being scattered during removal cannot be completely avoided. That is, even if the force with which the wiper member returns to its original shape is suppressed, the wiper member nevertheless attempts to return under its own elastic force, and thus the objects that adhered to the nozzle opening surface may still be scattered at that time. Accordingly, there is a problem in that a situation in which the surrounding area is soiled by adhering objects that have been scattered cannot be completely prevented.